Using portrait images in augmented reality components

ABSTRACT

The technical problem of creating an augmented reality (AR) experience that, on one hand, is accessible from a camera view user interface provided with a messaging client and that, also, can perform a modification based on a previously captured image of a user, is addressed by providing an AR component. When a user, while accessing the messaging client, engages a user selectable element representing the AR component in the camera view user interface, the messaging system loads the AR component in the messaging client. The AR component comprises a target media content object, which can be animation or live action video. The loaded AR component accesses a portrait image associated with a user and modifies the target media content using the portrait image. The resulting target media content object is displayed in the camera view user interface.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/949,700, filed Nov. 11, 2020, which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to manipulating electroniccontent.

BACKGROUND

The popularity of computer-implemented programs that permit users toaccess and interact with content and other users online continues togrow. Various computer-implemented applications exist that permit usersto share content with other users through messaging clients. Some ofsuch computer-implemented applications, termed apps, can be designed torun on a mobile device such as a phone, a tablet, or a watch, whilehaving a backend service provided on a server computer system to performoperations that may require resources greater than is reasonable toperform at a client device (e.g., storing large amounts of data orperforming computationally expensive processing). For example, amessaging client and the associated messaging server system may beconfigured to permit online users to share content.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numeralsmay describe similar components in different views. To easily identifythe discussion of any particular element or act, the most significantdigit or digits in a reference number refer to the figure number inwhich that element is first introduced. Some embodiments are illustratedby way of example, and not limitation, in the figures of theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of a networked environment inwhich the present disclosure may be deployed, in accordance with someexamples.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of a messaging system, inaccordance with some examples, that has both client-side and server-sidefunctionality.

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic representation of a data structure asmaintained in a database, in accordance with some examples.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of a message, in accordance withsome examples.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for an access-limiting process, in accordance withsome examples.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for providing an augmented reality experience, inaccordance with some examples.

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic representation of a camera view user interfacedisplaying the output of a digital image sensor of the camera and amodified target media content object, in accordance with some examples.

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic representation of a camera view user interfacedisplaying a modified target media content object with a backgrounddisplayed instead of the output of a digital image sensor of the camera,in accordance with some examples.

FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic representation of a camera view user interfacedisplaying multiple instances of a modified target media content object,in accordance with some examples.

FIG. 10 is a diagrammatic representation of a camera view user interfacedisplaying a target media content object, which was modified using aportrait image of a user's connection, in accordance with some examples.

FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the form of acomputer system within which a set of instructions may be executed forcausing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein, in accordance with some examples.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present disclosure improve the functionality ofelectronic messaging software and systems by enhancing users' experienceof engaging with augmented reality technology.

A messaging system that hosts a backend service for an associatedmessaging client is configured to permit users to capture images andvideos with a camera provided with a client device that hosts themessaging client and to share the captured content with other users viaa network communication. The messaging system is also configured toprovide augmented reality (AR) components accessible via the messagingclient. AR components can be used to modify content captured by acamera, e.g., by overlaying pictures or animation on top of the capturedimage or video frame, or by adding three-dimensional (3D) effects,objects, characters, and transformations. An AR component may beimplemented using a programming language suitable for app development,such as, e.g., JavaScript or Java. The AR components are identified inthe messaging server system by respective AR component identifiers.

A user can access functionality provided by an AR component by engaginga user-selectable element included in a camera view user interfacepresented by the messaging client. A camera view user interface isconfigured to display the output of a digital image sensor of a cameraprovided with an associated client device, to display a user selectableelement actionable to capture an image by the camera or to start andstop video recording, and also to display one or more user selectableelements representing respective AR components. The camera view userinterface may include one or more user selectable elements that permit auser to apply and also to remove the visual effect produced by the ARcomponent. A screen displayed by the messaging client, which can includethe output of a digital image sensor of a camera, a user selectableelement actionable to capture an image by the camera or to start andstop video recording, and also can display one or more user selectableelements representing respective AR components is referred to as acamera view screen. A user selectable element representing an ARcomponent is actionable to launch the AR component. When the ARcomponent is launched, the output of a digital image sensor of a cameradisplayed in the camera view user interface is augmented with themodification provided by the AR component. For example, an AR componentcan be configured to detect the head position of the person beingcaptured by the digital image sensor and overlay an image of a party hatover the detected head position, such that the viewer would see theperson presented as wearing the party hat. In many examples, ARcomponents modify, in real time, the output of a digital image sensor ofa camera displayed in the camera view user interface.

The technical problem of creating an AR experience that, on one hand, isaccessible from the camera view user interface and that, also, canperform a modification based on a previously captured and stored imageof a user, is addressed by providing an AR component configured toinclude this functionality. For the purposes of this description, apreviously captured and stored image of a user is referred to as aportrait image.

When a user, while accessing the messaging client, engages a userselectable element representing the AR component in the camera view userinterface presented by the messaging client, the messaging system loadsthe AR component in the messaging client. The AR component comprises atarget media content object, which can be animation or live actionvideo. The target media content object includes a portion, e.g., aplaceholder object, that can receive, or that can be replaced with,content corresponding to a human face from a portrait image. For thepurposes of this description, the content corresponding to a human facefrom a portrait image is referred to as merely a face object. The ARcomponent can be configured to use a face detection methodology toderive a face object from a portrait image. Some example face detectionmethodologies are described below in the context of augmented realitytools, with reference to FIG. 3 . The loaded AR component accesses aportrait image associated with the user and modifies the target mediacontent object by inserting the face object from the portrait image intothe placeholder object in the target media content object. The resultingtarget media content object is displayed in the camera view userinterface.

The resulting target media content object can be displayed in the cameraview user interface as overlaid over a portion of the output of adigital image sensor of the camera. For example, in the case where auser is using a front facing camera such that the output of the digitalimage sensor of the camera is the image of the user, and where thetarget media content object is an animation of a cartoon animal withrabbit ears, the camera screen view displays the image of the usercaptured by the digital image sensor of the camera and, also, cartoonanimal with rabbit ears that has the user's face.

In another example, the AR component includes a background image, andthe resulting target media content object is overlaid over thebackground image, such that the resulting target media content objectoverlaid over the background image is presented on the camera viewscreen instead of the output of a digital image sensor of the camera. Inthis example, the output of a digital image sensor of the camera is notvisible in the camera view screen. Another example where the resultingtarget media content object is presented on the camera view screeninstead of the output of a digital image sensor of the camera is wherethe target media content object associated with the AR component is alive action video, in which the faces of one or more characters in thevideo are replaced with the face object from the portrait image of theuser.

In yet another example, the aspects of the resulting target mediacontent object, such as the spatial placement of the overlaid targetmedia content object, may be in response to the movement of a userdetected by the digital image sensor of the camera. For instance, the ARcomponent may be configured to shift the position of the overlaid targetmedia content object from one side of the camera view user interface toanother in response to the detected head movement of the subject userdisplayed in the camera view screen.

In some examples, the AR component includes one or more machine learningmodels for face object animation, where a model is constructed tore-render a face object derived from the portrait image of a user withdifferent facial expressions or to re-render a face object from theportrait image to appear as turned to one side or another.

The AR component may include multiple target media content objects,which may be distinct media content items or multiple copies of the samemedia content item. In addition to a target media content objectconfigured to include a placeholder for the face object from a portraitimage of a user, the AR component may also be configured to apply amodification to the image or video being captured by a camera associatedwith the messaging client that is being accessed by the user. Forexample, the modification applied to the output of a digital imagesensor of a camera applied by the AR component may, in addition tooverlaying the associated modified target media content object over aportion of a captured frame, may also overlay an image of a party hatover the head position detected in the frame or distort the image of theuser's head and face in the captured frame.

A user's profile in the messaging system may indicate that the user'sprofile is related to another profile in the messaging system as a“friend” profile, also referred to as a connected profile. A userrepresented in the messaging system by a profile that indicates aconnection with a further profile that represents a further user, may bepermitted to exchange content with the further user in a manner that maynot be permitted to a user whose profile does not indicate a friendshiprelationship with the further user. In some examples, the AR componentmay be configured to utilize a portrait image of a further user, wherethe further user is represented in the messaging system by a profilethat is distinct from the profile of the first user who is accessing themessaging client. The further user may be a connection, also termed a“friend,” of the first user in the messaging system. The AR componentthat utilizes a portrait image of a further user, modifies the targetmedia content object by inserting the face object from the portraitimage of the further user into the placeholder object in the targetmedia content object.

Networked Computing Environment

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example messaging system 100 forexchanging data (e.g., messages and associated content) over a network.The messaging system 100 includes multiple instances of a client device102, each of which hosts a number of applications, including a messagingclient 104. Each messaging client 104 is communicatively coupled toother instances of the messaging client 104 and a messaging serversystem 108 via a network 106 (e.g., the Internet).

A messaging client 104 is able to communicate and exchange data withanother messaging client 104 and with the messaging server system 108via the network 106. The data exchanged between messaging client 104,and between a messaging client 104 and the messaging server system 108,includes functions (e.g., commands to invoke functions) as well aspayload data (e.g., text, audio, video or other multimedia data). Forexample, the messaging client 104 permits a user to access functionalityprovided by the AR component, which may reside, at least partially, atthe messaging server system 108. As explained above, the AR componentcomprises a target media content object, and is configured to modify thetarget media content object by inserting the face object derived fromthe portrait image of the user into the placeholder object in the targetmedia content object.

The messaging server system 108 provides server-side functionality viathe network 106 to a particular messaging client 104. While certainfunctions of the messaging system 100 are described herein as beingperformed by either a messaging client 104 or by the messaging serversystem 108, the location of certain functionality either within themessaging client 104 or the messaging server system 108 may be a designchoice. For example, it may be technically preferable to initiallydeploy certain technology and functionality within the messaging serversystem 108 but to later migrate this technology and functionality to themessaging client 104 where a client device 102 has sufficient processingcapacity. For example, with respect to the functionality provided by theAR component, the operations of deriving the face object from theportrait image, and generating a modified target media content object byreplacing a portion of the target media content object with the faceobject, which are performed in response to detecting activation of theuser selectable element representing the augmented reality component,may be executed at the messaging server system 108 in order to conserveresources of the client device 102 hosting messaging client 104.Alternatively, if it is determined that the client device 102 hostingmessaging client 104 has sufficient processing resources, some or all ofthese operations may be executed by the messaging client 104.

The messaging server system 108 supports various services and operationsthat are provided to the messaging client 104. Such operations includetransmitting data to, receiving data from, and processing data generatedby the messaging client 104. This data may include message content,client device information, geolocation information, media augmentationand overlays, message content persistence conditions, social networkinformation, and live event information, as examples. Data exchangeswithin the messaging system 100 are invoked and controlled throughfunctions available via user interfaces (UIs) of the messaging client104. For example, the messaging client 104 can present a camera viewuser interface that displays the output of a digital image sensor of acamera of the client device 102, and also to display a user selectableelement actionable to load the AR component in the messaging client 104.

Turning now specifically to the messaging server system 108, anApplication Program Interface (API) server 110 is coupled to, andprovides a programmatic interface to, application servers 112. Theapplication servers 112 are communicatively coupled to a database server118, which facilitates access to a database 120 that stores dataassociated with messages processed by the application servers 112.Similarly, a web server 124 is coupled to the application servers 112,and provides web-based interfaces to the application servers 112. Tothis end, the web server 124 processes incoming network requests overthe Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and several other relatedprotocols.

The Application Program Interface (API) server 110 receives andtransmits message data (e.g., commands and message payloads) between theclient device 102 and the application servers 112. Specifically, theApplication Program Interface (API) server 110 provides a set ofinterfaces (e.g., routines and protocols) that can be called or queriedby the messaging client 104 in order to invoke functionality of theapplication servers 112. The Application Program Interface (API) server110 exposes various functions supported by the application servers 112,including account registration, login functionality, the sending ofmessages, via the application servers 112, from a particular messagingclient 104 to another messaging client 104, the sending of media files(e.g., images or video) from a messaging client 104 to a messagingserver 114, and for possible access by another messaging client 104, thesettings of a collection of media data (e.g., story), the retrieval of alist of friends of a user of a client device 102, the retrieval of suchcollections, the retrieval of messages and content, the addition anddeletion of entities (e.g., friends) to an entity graph (e.g., a socialgraph), the location of friends within a social graph, and opening anapplication event (e.g., relating to the messaging client 104).

The application servers 112 host a number of server applications andsubsystems, including for example a messaging server 114, an imageprocessing server 116, and a social network server 122. The messagingserver 114 implements a number of message processing technologies andfunctions, particularly related to the aggregation and other processingof content (e.g., textual and multimedia content) included in messagesreceived from multiple instances of the messaging client 104. As will bedescribed in further detail, the text and media content from multiplesources may be aggregated into collections of content (e.g., calledstories or galleries). These collections are then made available to themessaging client 104. Other processor and memory intensive processing ofdata may also be performed server-side by the messaging server 114, inview of the hardware requirements for such processing.

The application servers 112 also include an image processing server 116that is dedicated to performing various image processing operations,typically with respect to images or video within the payload of amessage sent from or received at the messaging server 114. Some of thevarious image processing operations may be performed by various ARcomponents, which can be hosted or supported by the image processingserver 116. An example of an AR component, as discussed above, is the ARcomponent, which comprises a target media content object, and isconfigured to modify the target media content object by inserting theface object derived from the portrait image of the user into theplaceholder object in the target media content object.

The social network server 122 supports various social networkingfunctions and services and makes these functions and services availableto the messaging server 114. To this end, the social network server 122maintains and accesses an entity graph 306 (as shown in FIG. 3 ) withinthe database 120. Examples of functions and services supported by thesocial network server 122 include the identification of other users ofthe messaging system 100 with which a particular user has a “friend”relationship or is “following,” and also the identification of otherentities and interests of a particular user. With reference to thefunctionality provided by the AR component, the identification, by thesocial network server 122, of other users of the messaging system 100,with which a particular user has a “friend” relationship, can be used todetermine the identification of a further user, whose portrait image isto be used by the AR component for deriving the face object, which isthen used to modify the target media content object associated with theAR component by inserting the face object from the portrait image of thefurther user into the placeholder object in the target media contentobject.

System Architecture

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating further details regarding themessaging system 100, according to some examples. Specifically, themessaging system 100 is shown to comprise the messaging client 104 andthe application servers 112. The messaging system 100 embodies a numberof subsystems, which are supported on the client-side by the messagingclient 104 and on the sever-side by the application servers 112. Thesesubsystems include, for example, an ephemeral timer system 202, acollection management system 204, and an augmentation system 206.

The ephemeral timer system 202 is responsible for enforcing thetemporary or time-limited access to content by the messaging client 104and the messaging server 114. The ephemeral timer system 202incorporates a number of timers that, based on duration and displayparameters associated with a message, or collection of messages (e.g., astory), selectively enable access (e.g., for presentation and display)to messages and associated content via the messaging client 104. Furtherdetails regarding the operation of the ephemeral timer system 202 areprovided below.

The collection management system 204 is responsible for managing sets orcollections of media (e.g., collections of text, image video, and audiodata). A collection of content (e.g., messages, including images, video,text, and audio) may be organized into an “event gallery” or an “eventstory.” Such a collection may be made available for a specified timeperiod, such as the duration of an event to which the content relates.For example, content relating to a music concert may be made availableas a “story” for the duration of that music concert. In a furtherexample, a collection may include content, which was generated using oneor more AR components, including the AR component that may includecontent captured by a camera augmented using a media content objectmodified using a previously captured and stored image of the user. Thecollection management system 204 may also be responsible for publishingan icon that provides notification of the existence of a particularcollection to the user interface of the messaging client 104.

The collection management system 204 furthermore includes a curationinterface 212 that allows a collection manager to manage and curate aparticular collection of content. For example, the curation interface212 enables an event organizer to curate a collection of contentrelating to a specific event (e.g., delete inappropriate content orredundant messages). Additionally, the collection management system 204employs machine vision (or image recognition technology) and contentrules to automatically curate a content collection. In certain examples,compensation may be paid to a user for the inclusion of user-generatedcontent into a collection. In such cases, the collection managementsystem 204 operates to automatically make payments to such users for theuse of their content.

The augmentation system 206 provides various functions that enable auser to augment (e.g., annotate or otherwise modify or edit) mediacontent, which may be associated with a message. For example, theaugmentation system 206 provides functions related to the generation andpublishing of media overlays for messages processed by the messagingsystem 100. The media overlays may be stored in the database 120 andaccessed through the database server 118.

With reference to the AR component, the media overlay associated withthe AR component is referred to as a target media content object. Asexplained above, a target media content object includes a placeholderobject, that can receive, or that can be replaced with, contentcorresponding to a human face from a portrait image (a face object). TheAR component, when loaded in a messaging client that receives input froma user, accesses a portrait image associated with the user and modifiesthe target media content object by inserting the face object from theportrait image into the placeholder object in the target media contentobject. The resulting target media content object may be overlaid overthe output of the digital image sensor of the associated camera in thecamera view user interface presented by the messaging client. Exampleoperations performed by the augmentation system 206, illustrating someof the functionality provided by the AR component, are described withreference to FIG. 6 further below.

In some examples, the augmentation system 206 is configured to provideaccess to AR components that can be implemented using a programminglanguage suitable for app development, such as, e.g., JavaScript or Javaand that are identified in the messaging server system by respective ARcomponent identifiers. An AR component may include or reference variousimage processing operations corresponding to an image modification,filter, media overlay, transformation, and the like. These imageprocessing operations can provide an interactive experience of areal-world environment, where objects, surfaces, backgrounds, lightingetc., captured by a digital image sensor or a camera, are enhanced bycomputer-generated perceptual information. In this context an ARcomponent comprises the collection of data, parameters, and other assetsneeded to apply a selected augmented reality experience to an image or avideo feed.

In some embodiments, an AR component includes modules configured tomodify or transform image data presented within a graphical userinterface (GUI) of a client device in some way. For example, complexadditions or transformations to the content images may be performedusing AR component data, such as adding rabbit ears to the head of aperson in a video clip, adding floating hearts with background coloringto a video clip, altering the proportions of a person's features withina video clip, or many numerous other such transformations. This includesboth real-time modifications that modify an image as it is capturedusing a camera associated with a client device and then displayed on ascreen of the client device with the AR component modifications, as wellas modifications to stored content, such as video clips in a gallerythat may be modified using AR components.

Various augmented reality functionality that may be provided by an ARcomponent include detection of objects (e.g. faces, hands, bodies, cats,dogs, surfaces, objects, etc.), tracking of such objects as they leave,enter, and move around the field of view in video frames, and themodification or transformation of such objects as they are tracked. Invarious embodiments, different methods for achieving suchtransformations may be used. For example, some embodiments may involvegenerating a 3D mesh model of the object or objects, and usingtransformations and animated textures of the model within the video toachieve the transformation. In other embodiments, tracking of points onan object may be used to place an image or texture, which may be twodimensional or three dimensional, at the tracked position. In stillfurther embodiments, neural network analysis of video frames may be usedto place images, models, or textures in content (e.g. images or framesof video). AR component data thus refers to both to the images, models,and textures used to create transformations in content, as well as toadditional modeling and analysis information needed to achieve suchtransformations with object detection, tracking, and placement.

As stated above, an example of an AR component is the AR component that,when loaded in a messaging client that receives input from a user,accesses a portrait image associated with the user and modifies thetarget media content object by inserting the face object derived fromthe portrait image into the placeholder object in the target mediacontent object. In some examples, the AR component is configured toutilize face detection technology to derive a face object from aportrait image. Examples of face detection technology includeViola-Jones feature based object detection framework and deep learningmethods, such as “Multi-Task Cascaded Convolutional Neural Network,” orMTCNN.

Data Architecture

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating data structures 300, whichmay be stored in the database 120 of the messaging server system 108,according to certain examples. While the content of the database 120 isshown to comprise a number of tables, it will be appreciated that thedata could be stored in other types of data structures (e.g., as anobject-oriented database).

The database 120 includes message data stored within a message table302. This message data includes, for any particular one message, atleast message sender data, message recipient (or receiver) data, and apayload. Further details regarding information that may be included in amessage, and included within the message data stored in the messagetable 302 is described below with reference to FIG. 4 .

An entity table 304 stores entity data, and is linked (e.g.,referentially) to an entity graph 306 and profile data 308. Entities forwhich records are maintained within the entity table 304 may includeindividuals, corporate entities, organizations, objects, places, events,and so forth. Regardless of entity type, any entity regarding which themessaging server system 108 stores data may be a recognized entity. Eachentity is provided with a unique identifier, as well as an entity typeidentifier (not shown).

The entity graph 306 stores information regarding relationships andassociations between entities. Such relationships may be social,professional (e.g., work at a common corporation or organization)interested-based or activity-based, merely for example. With referenceto the functionality provided by the AR component, the entity graph 306stores information that can be used, in cases where the AR component isconfigured to permit using a portrait image of a user other than that ofthe user controlling the associated client device for modifying thetarget media content object, to determine a further profile that isconnected to the profile representing the user controlling theassociated client device. As mentioned above, the portrait image of auser may be stored in a user profile representing the user in themessaging system.

The profile data 308 stores multiple types of profile data about aparticular entity. The profile data 308 may be selectively used andpresented to other users of the messaging system 100, based on privacysettings specified by a particular entity. Where the entity is anindividual, the profile data 308 includes, for example, a user name,telephone number, address, settings (e.g., notification and privacysettings), as well as a user-selected avatar representation (orcollection of such avatar representations). A particular user may thenselectively include one or more of these avatar representations withinthe content of messages communicated via the messaging system 100, andon map interfaces displayed by messaging clients 104 to other users. Thecollection of avatar representations may include “status avatars,” whichpresent a graphical representation of a status or activity that the usermay select to communicate at a particular time.

With reference to the functionality provided by the AR component, theprofile data 308 stores the portrait image of a user or a reference tothe portrait image. The portrait image is provided by the userrepresented by an associated profile. The portrait image can used by theAR component when the AR component is loaded in the messaging client104, as described above.

The database 120 also stores augmentation data in an augmentation table310. The augmentation data is associated with and applied to videos (forwhich data is stored in a video table 314) and images (for which data isstored in an image table 316). In some examples, the augmentation datais used by various AR components, including the AR component. An exampleof augmentation data is a target media content object, which may beassociated with an AR component and used to generate an AR experiencefor a user, as described above.

Another example of augmentation data is augmented reality (AR) toolsthat can be used in AR components to effectuate image transformations.Image transformations include real-time modifications, which modify animage (e.g., a video frame) as it is captured using a digital imagesensor of a client device 102. The modified image is displayed on ascreen of the client device 102 with the modifications. AR tools mayalso be used to apply modifications to stored content, such as videoclips or still images stored in a gallery. In a client device 102 withaccess to multiple AR tools, a user can apply different AR tools (e.g.,by engaging different AR components configured to utilize different ARtools) to a single video clip to see how the different AR tools wouldmodify the same video clip. For example, multiple AR tools that applydifferent pseudorandom movement models can be applied to the samecaptured content by selecting different AR tools for the same capturedcontent. Similarly, real-time video capture may be used with anillustrated modification to show how video images currently beingcaptured by a digital image sensor of a camera provided with a clientdevice 102 would modify the captured data. Such data may simply bedisplayed on the screen and not stored in memory, or the contentcaptured by digital image sensor may be recorded and stored in memorywith or without the modifications (or both). A messaging client 104 canbe configured to include a preview feature that can show howmodifications produced by different AR tools will look, within differentwindows in a display at the same time. This can, for example, permit auser to view multiple windows with different pseudorandom animationspresented on a display at the same time.

In some examples, when a particular modification is selected along withcontent to be transformed, elements to be transformed are identified bythe computing device, and then detected and tracked if they are presentin the frames of the video. The elements of the object are modifiedaccording to the request for modification, thus transforming the framesof the video stream. Transformation of frames of a video stream can beperformed by different methods for different kinds of transformation.For example, for transformations of frames mostly referring to changingforms of object's elements characteristic points for each element of anobject are calculated (e.g., using an Active Shape Model (ASM) or otherknown methods). Then, a mesh based on the characteristic points isgenerated for each of the at least one element of the object. This meshused in the following stage of tracking the elements of the object inthe video stream. In the process of tracking, the mentioned mesh foreach element is aligned with a position of each element. Then,additional points are generated on the mesh. A first set of first pointsis generated for each element based on a request for modification, and aset of second points is generated for each element based on the set offirst points and the request for modification. Then, the frames of thevideo stream can be transformed by modifying the elements of the objecton the basis of the sets of first and second points and the mesh. Insuch method, a background of the modified object can be changed ordistorted as well by tracking and modifying the background.

In some examples, transformations changing some areas of an object usingits elements can be performed by calculating characteristic points foreach element of an object and generating a mesh based on the calculatedcharacteristic points. Points are generated on the mesh, and thenvarious areas based on the points are generated. The elements of theobject are then tracked by aligning the area for each element with aposition for each of the at least one element, and properties of theareas can be modified based on the request for modification, thustransforming the frames of the video stream. Depending on the specificrequest for modification properties of the mentioned areas can betransformed in different ways. Such modifications may involve changingcolor of areas; removing at least some part of areas from the frames ofthe video stream; including one or more new objects into areas which arebased on a request for modification; and modifying or distorting theelements of an area or object. In various embodiments, any combinationof such modifications or other similar modifications may be used. Forcertain models to be animated, some characteristic points can beselected as control points to be used in determining the entirestate-space of options for the model animation.

A story table 312 stores data regarding collections of messages andassociated image, video, or audio data, which are compiled into acollection (e.g., a story or a gallery). The creation of a particularcollection may be initiated by a particular user (e.g., each user forwhich a record is maintained in the entity table 304). A user may createa “personal story” in the form of a collection of content that has beencreated and sent/broadcast by that user. To this end, the user interfaceof the messaging client 104 may include an icon that is user-selectableto enable a sending user to add specific content to his or her personalstory. In some examples, the story table 312 stores one or more imagesor videos that were created using the AR component.

A collection may also constitute a “live story,” which is a collectionof content from multiple users that is created manually, automatically,or using a combination of manual and automatic techniques. For example,a “live story” may constitute a curated stream of user-submitted contentfrom varies locations and events. Users whose client devices havelocation services enabled and are at a common location event at aparticular time may, for example, be presented with an option, via auser interface of the messaging client 104, to contribute content to aparticular live story. The live story may be identified to the user bythe messaging client 104, based on his or her location. The end resultis a “live story” told from a community perspective.

A further type of content collection is known as a “location story,”which enables a user whose client device 102 is located within aspecific geographic location (e.g., on a college or university campus)to contribute to a particular collection. In some examples, acontribution to a location story may require a second degree ofauthentication to verify that the end user belongs to a specificorganization or other entity (e.g., is a student on the universitycampus).

As mentioned above, the video table 314 stores video data that, in oneexample, is associated with messages for which records are maintainedwithin the message table 302. Similarly, the image table 316 storesimage data associated with messages for which message data is stored inthe entity table 304. The entity table 304 may associate variousaugmentations from the augmentation table 310 with various images andvideos stored in the image table 316 and the video table 314.

Data Communications Architecture

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a message 400,according to some examples, generated by a messaging client 104 forcommunication to a further messaging client 104 or the messaging server114. The content of a particular message 400 is used to populate themessage table 302 stored within the database 120, accessible by themessaging server 114. Similarly, the content of a message 400 is storedin memory as “in-transit” or “in-flight” data of the client device 102or the application servers 112. The content of a message 400, in someexamples, includes an image or a video that was created using the ARcomponent. A message 400 is shown to include the following examplecomponents:

-   -   message identifier 402: a unique identifier that identifies the        message 400.    -   message text payload 404: text, to be generated by a user via a        user interface of the client device 102, and that is included in        the message 400.    -   message image payload 406: image data, captured by a camera        component of a client device 102 or retrieved from a memory        component of a client device 102, and that is included in the        message 400. Image data for a sent or received message 400 may        be stored in the image table 316.    -   message video payload 408: video data, captured by a camera        component or retrieved from a memory component of the client        device 102, and that is included in the message 400. Video data        for a sent or received message 400 may be stored in the video        table 314.    -   message audio payload 410: audio data, captured by a microphone        or retrieved from a memory component of the client device 102,        and that is included in the message 400.    -   message augmentation data 412: augmentation data (e.g., filters,        stickers, or other annotations or enhancements) that represents        augmentations to be applied to message image payload 406,        message video payload 408, or message audio payload 410 of the        message 400. Augmentation data for a sent or received message        400 may be stored in the augmentation table 310.    -   message duration parameter 414: parameter value indicating, in        seconds, the amount of time for which content of the message        (e.g., the message image payload 406, message video payload 408,        message audio payload 410) is to be presented or made accessible        to a user via the messaging client 104.    -   message geolocation parameter 416: geolocation data (e.g.,        latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates) associated with the        content payload of the message. Multiple message geolocation        parameter 416 values may be included in the payload, each of        these parameter values being associated with respect to content        items included in the content (e.g., a specific image into        within the message image payload 406, or a specific video in the        message video payload 408).    -   message story identifier 418: identifier values identifying one        or more content collections (e.g., “stories” identified in the        story table 312) with which a particular content item in the        message image payload 406 of the message 400 is associated. For        example, multiple images within the message image payload 406        may each be associated with multiple content collections using        identifier values.    -   message tag 420: each message 400 may be tagged with multiple        tags, each of which is indicative of the subject matter of        content included in the message payload. For example, where a        particular image included in the message image payload 406        depicts an animal (e.g., a lion), a tag value may be included        within the message tag 420 that is indicative of the relevant        animal. Tag values may be generated manually, based on user        input, or may be automatically generated using, for example,        image recognition.    -   message sender identifier 422: an identifier (e.g., a messaging        system identifier, email address, or device identifier)        indicative of a user of the Client device 102 on which the        message 400 was generated and from which the message 400 was        sent.    -   message receiver identifier 424: an identifier (e.g., a        messaging system identifier, email address, or device        identifier) indicative of a user of the client device 102 to        which the message 400 is addressed.

The contents (e.g., values) of the various components of message 400 maybe pointers to locations in tables within which content data values arestored. For example, an image value in the message image payload 406 maybe a pointer to (or address of) a location within an image table 316.Similarly, values within the message video payload 408 may point to datastored within a video table 314, values stored within the messageaugmentations 412 may point to data stored in an augmentation table 310,values stored within the message story identifier 418 may point to datastored in a story table 312, and values stored within the message senderidentifier 422 and the message receiver identifier 424 may point to userrecords stored within an entity table 304.

Time-Based Access Limitation Architecture

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an access-limiting process500, in terms of which access to content (e.g., an ephemeral message502, and associated multimedia payload of data) or a content collection(e.g., an ephemeral message group 504) may be time-limited (e.g., madeephemeral). The content of an ephemeral message 502, in some examples,includes an image or a video that was created using the AR component.

An ephemeral message 502 is shown to be associated with a messageduration parameter 506, the value of which determines an amount of timethat the ephemeral message 502 will be displayed to a receiving user ofthe ephemeral message 502 by the messaging client 104. In one example,an ephemeral message 502 is viewable by a receiving user for up to amaximum of 10 seconds, depending on the amount of time that the sendinguser specifies using the message duration parameter 506.

The message duration parameter 506 and the message receiver identifier424 are shown to be inputs to a message timer 512, which is responsiblefor determining the amount of time that the ephemeral message 502 isshown to a particular receiving user identified by the message receiveridentifier 424. In particular, the ephemeral message 502 will only beshown to the relevant receiving user for a time period determined by thevalue of the message duration parameter 506. The message timer 512 isshown to provide output to a more generalized ephemeral timer system202, which is responsible for the overall timing of display of content(e.g., an ephemeral message 502) to a receiving user.

The ephemeral message 502 is shown in FIG. 5 to be included within anephemeral message group 504 (e.g., a collection of messages in apersonal story, or an event story). The ephemeral message group 504 hasan associated group duration parameter 508, a value of which determinesa time duration for which the ephemeral message group 504 is presentedand accessible to users of the messaging system 100. The group durationparameter 508, for example, may be the duration of a music concert,where the ephemeral message group 504 is a collection of contentpertaining to that concert. Alternatively, a user (either the owninguser or a curator user) may specify the value for the group durationparameter 508 when performing the setup and creation of the ephemeralmessage group 504.

Additionally, each ephemeral message 502 within the ephemeral messagegroup 504 has an associated group participation parameter 510, a valueof which determines the duration of time for which the ephemeral message502 will be accessible within the context of the ephemeral message group504. Accordingly, a particular ephemeral message group 504 may “expire”and become inaccessible within the context of the ephemeral messagegroup 504, prior to the ephemeral message group 504 itself expiring interms of the group duration parameter 508. The group duration parameter508, group participation parameter 510, and message receiver identifier424 each provide input to a group timer 514, which operationallydetermines, firstly, whether a particular ephemeral message 502 of theephemeral message group 504 will be displayed to a particular receivinguser and, if so, for how long. Note that the ephemeral message group 504is also aware of the identity of the particular receiving user as aresult of the message receiver identifier 424.

Accordingly, the group timer 514 operationally controls the overalllifespan of an associated ephemeral message group 504, as well as anindividual ephemeral message 502 included in the ephemeral message group504. In one example, each and every ephemeral message 502 within theephemeral message group 504 remains viewable and accessible for a timeperiod specified by the group duration parameter 508. In a furtherexample, a certain ephemeral message 502 may expire, within the contextof ephemeral message group 504, based on a group participation parameter510. Note that a message duration parameter 506 may still determine theduration of time for which a particular ephemeral message 502 isdisplayed to a receiving user, even within the context of the ephemeralmessage group 504. Accordingly, the message duration parameter 506determines the duration of time that a particular ephemeral message 502is displayed to a receiving user, regardless of whether the receivinguser is viewing that ephemeral message 502 inside or outside the contextof an ephemeral message group 504.

The ephemeral timer system 202 may furthermore operationally remove aparticular ephemeral message 502 from the ephemeral message group 504based on a determination that it has exceeded an associated groupparticipation parameter 510. For example, when a sending user hasestablished a group participation parameter 510 of 24 hours fromposting, the ephemeral timer system 202 will remove the relevantephemeral message 502 from the ephemeral message group 504 after thespecified 24 hours. The ephemeral timer system 202 also operates toremove an ephemeral message group 504 when either the groupparticipation parameter 510 for each and every ephemeral message 502within the ephemeral message group 504 has expired, or when theephemeral message group 504 itself has expired in terms of the groupduration parameter 508.

In certain use cases, a creator of a particular ephemeral message group504 may specify an indefinite group duration parameter 508. In thiscase, the expiration of the group participation parameter 510 for thelast remaining ephemeral message 502 within the ephemeral message group504 will determine when the ephemeral message group 504 itself expires.In this case, a new ephemeral message 502, added to the ephemeralmessage group 504, with a new group participation parameter 510,effectively extends the life of an ephemeral message group 504 to equalthe value of the group participation parameter 510.

Responsive to the ephemeral timer system 202 determining that anephemeral message group 504 has expired (e.g., is no longer accessible),the ephemeral timer system 202 communicates with the messaging system100 (and, for example, specifically the messaging client 104) to causean indicium (e.g., an icon) associated with the relevant ephemeralmessage group 504 to no longer be displayed within a user interface ofthe messaging client 104. Similarly, when the ephemeral timer system 202determines that the message duration parameter 506 for a particularephemeral message 502 has expired, the ephemeral timer system 202 causesthe messaging client 104 to no longer display an indicium (e.g., an iconor textual identification) associated with the ephemeral message 502.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart 600 for providing an augmented reality experienceusing the AR component, in accordance with some examples. In one exampleembodiment, some or all processing logic resides at the client device102 of FIG. 1 and/or at the messaging server system 108 of FIG. 1 . Themethod 600 commences at operation 610, when the augmentation system 206of FIG. 2 detects activation, from a camera view user interface, of auser selectable element representing the AR component. In response tothe detecting, at operation 620, the augmentation system 206 accesses aportrait image associated with a user profile representing a user in themessaging system and derives a face object from the portrait image. Asexplained above, a face object may be derived from a portrait image bymeans of face detection technology, utilizing, for example, Viola-Jonesfeature based object detection framework or MTCNN. At operation 630, theaugmentation system 206 generates a modified target media content objectby replacing the portion of the target media content object with thederived face object. At operation 640, the augmentation system 206causes presentation of the modified target media content object in thecamera view user interface at the client device.

An example of a camera view user interface 700 displaying the output ofa digital image sensor of the camera in area 710 and a modified targetmedia content object 720, which is displayed in the camera view userinterface as overlaid over a portion of the output of a digital imagesensor of the camera, is shown in FIG. 7 . Shown in FIG. 7 is a userselectable element 730 actionable to capture an image by the camera orto start and stop video recording. The graphics 740 indicates that theloaded AR component is the AR component that can perform a modificationbased on a previously captured and stored image of a user (a portraitimage) and overlay it over the area 710 of the camera view userinterface 700. A user selectable element 750 represents another ARcomponent, which can be loaded in response to a detected interaction ofa user with the user selectable element 750.

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic representation of a camera view user interface800 displaying a modified target media content object 810, with abackground displayed in area 820, instead of the output of a digitalimage sensor of the camera. The background may be, for example, a color,a pattern (as is shown in the area 820), a background image, an animatedscene, or a video sequence.

As explained above, the AR component may include multiple target mediacontent objects, which may be distinct media content items or multiplecopies of the same media content item, as shown in FIG. 9 . FIG. 9 is adiagrammatic representation of a camera view user interface 900displaying multiple instances of a modified target media content object910. The image of a user's head 920, which is captured by a digitalimage sensor of the camera, is displayed, in area 930, as modified by amodification provided by the associated AR component, which is theaddition of a hat 940.

FIG. 10 is a diagrammatic representation of a camera view user interface1000, displaying a target media content object 1010, which was modifiedusing a portrait image of a user's connection, in accordance with someexamples. As can be seen in FIG. 10 , The face included in the modifiedtarget media content object is different from the face displayed in area1020, which displays the output of a digital image sensor of a camera.

Machine Architecture

FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic representation of the machine 600 within whichinstructions 608 (e.g., software, a program, an application, an applet,an app, or other executable code) for causing the machine 1100 toperform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein may beexecuted. For example, the instructions 1108 may cause the machine 1100to execute any one or more of the methods described herein. Theinstructions 1108 transform the general, non-programmed machine 1100into a particular machine 1100 programmed to carry out the described andillustrated functions in the manner described. The machine 1100 mayoperate as a standalone device or may be coupled (e.g., networked) toother machines. In a networked deployment, the machine 1100 may operatein the capacity of a server machine or a client machine in aserver-client network environment, or as a peer machine in apeer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The machine 1100 maycomprise, but not be limited to, a server computer, a client computer, apersonal computer (PC), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a netbook,a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), anentertainment media system, a cellular telephone, a smartphone, a mobiledevice, a wearable device (e.g., a smartwatch), a smart home device(e.g., a smart appliance), other smart devices, a web appliance, anetwork router, a network switch, a network bridge, or any machinecapable of executing the instructions 1108, sequentially or otherwise,that specify actions to be taken by the machine 1100. Further, whileonly a single machine 1100 is illustrated, the term “machine” shall alsobe taken to include a collection of machines that individually orjointly execute the instructions 1108 to perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein. The machine 1100, for example, maycomprise the client device 102 or any one of a number of server devicesforming part of the messaging server system 108. In some examples, themachine 1100 may also comprise both client and server systems, withcertain operations of a particular method or algorithm being performedon the server-side and with certain operations of the particular methodor algorithm being performed on the client-side.

The machine 1100 may include processors 1102, memory 1104, andinput/output I/O components 1138, which may be configured to communicatewith each other via a bus 1140. In an example, the processors 1102(e.g., a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Reduced Instruction SetComputing (RISC) Processor, a Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC)Processor, a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), a Digital Signal Processor(DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), aRadio-Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC), another processor, or anysuitable combination thereof) may include, for example, a processor 1106and a processor 1110 that execute the instructions 1108. The term“processor” is intended to include multi-core processors that maycomprise two or more independent processors (sometimes referred to as“cores”) that may execute instructions contemporaneously. Although FIG.11 shows multiple processors 1102, the machine 1100 may include a singleprocessor with a single-core, a single processor with multiple cores(e.g., a multi-core processor), multiple processors with a single core,multiple processors with multiples cores, or any combination thereof.

The memory 1104 includes a main memory 1112, a static memory 1114, and astorage unit 1116, both accessible to the processors 1102 via the bus1140. The main memory 1104, the static memory 1114, and storage unit1116 store the instructions 1108 embodying any one or more of themethodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 1108 mayalso reside, completely or partially, within the main memory 1112,within the static memory 1114, within machine-readable medium 1118within the storage unit 11111, within at least one of the processors1102 (e.g., within the Processor's cache memory), or any suitablecombination thereof, during execution thereof by the machine 1100.

The I/O components 1138 may include a wide variety of components toreceive input, provide output, produce output, transmit information,exchange information, capture measurements, and so on. The specific I/Ocomponents 1138 that are included in a particular machine will depend onthe type of machine. For example, portable machines such as mobilephones may include a touch input device or other such input mechanisms,while a headless server machine will likely not include such a touchinput device. It will be appreciated that the I/O components 1138 mayinclude many other components that are not shown in FIG. 11 . In variousexamples, the I/O components 1138 may include user output components1124 and user input components 1126. The user output components 1124 mayinclude visual components (e.g., a display such as a plasma displaypanel (PDP), a light-emitting diode (LED) display, a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD), a projector, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)), acousticcomponents (e.g., speakers), haptic components (e.g., a vibratory motor,resistance mechanisms), other signal generators, and so forth. The userinput components 1126 may include alphanumeric input components (e.g., akeyboard, a touch screen configured to receive alphanumeric input, aphoto-optical keyboard, or other alphanumeric input components),point-based input components (e.g., a mouse, a touchpad, a trackball, ajoystick, a motion sensor, or another pointing instrument), tactileinput components (e.g., a physical button, a touch screen that provideslocation and force of touches or touch gestures, or other tactile inputcomponents), audio input components (e.g., a microphone), and the like.

In further examples, the I/O components 1138 may include biometriccomponents 1128, motion components 1130, environmental components 1132,or position components 1134, among a wide array of other components. Forexample, the biometric components 1128 include components to detectexpressions (e.g., hand expressions, facial expressions, vocalexpressions, body gestures, or eye-tracking), measure biosignals (e.g.,blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, perspiration, or brainwaves), identify a person (e.g., voice identification, retinalidentification, facial identification, fingerprint identification, orelectroencephalogram-based identification), and the like. The motioncomponents 1130 include acceleration sensor components (e.g.,accelerometer), gravitation sensor components, rotation sensorcomponents (e.g., gyroscope).

The environmental components 1132 include, for example, one or cameras(with still image/photograph and video capabilities), illuminationsensor components (e.g., photometer), temperature sensor components(e.g., one or more thermometers that detect ambient temperature),humidity sensor components, pressure sensor components (e.g.,barometer), acoustic sensor components (e.g., one or more microphonesthat detect background noise), proximity sensor components (e.g.,infrared sensors that detect nearby objects), gas sensors (e.g., gasdetection sensors to detection concentrations of hazardous gases forsafety or to measure pollutants in the atmosphere), or other componentsthat may provide indications, measurements, or signals corresponding toa surrounding physical environment.

With respect to cameras, the client device 102 may have a camera systemcomprising, for example, front cameras on a front surface of the clientdevice 102 and rear cameras on a rear surface of the client device 102.The front cameras may, for example, be used to capture still images andvideo of a user of the client device 102 (e.g., “selfies”), which maythen be augmented with augmentation data (e.g., filters) describedabove. The rear cameras may, for example, be used to capture stillimages and videos in a more traditional camera mode, with these imagessimilarly being augmented with augmentation data. In addition to frontand rear cameras, the client device 102 may also include a 360° camerafor capturing 360° photographs and videos.

Further, the camera system of a client device 102 may include dual rearcameras (e.g., a primary camera as well as a depth-sensing camera), oreven triple, quad or penta rear camera configurations on the front andrear sides of the client device 102. These multiple cameras systems mayinclude a wide camera, an ultra-wide camera, a telephoto camera, a macrocamera and a depth sensor, for example.

The position components 1134 include location sensor components (e.g., aGPS receiver component), altitude sensor components (e.g., altimeters orbarometers that detect air pressure from which altitude may be derived),orientation sensor components (e.g., magnetometers), and the like.

Communication may be implemented using a wide variety of technologies.The I/O components 1138 further include communication components 1136operable to couple the machine 1100 to a network 1120 or devices 1122via respective coupling or connections. For example, the communicationcomponents 1136 may include a network interface Component or anothersuitable device to interface with the network 1120. In further examples,the communication components 1136 may include wired communicationcomponents, wireless communication components, cellular communicationcomponents, Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth®components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and othercommunication components to provide communication via other modalities.The devices 1122 may be another machine or any of a wide variety ofperipheral devices (e.g., a peripheral device coupled via a USB).

Moreover, the communication components 636 may detect identifiers orinclude components operable to detect identifiers. For example, thecommunication components 636 may include Radio Frequency Identification(RFID) tag reader components, NFC smart tag detection components,optical reader components (e.g., an optical sensor to detectone-dimensional bar codes such as Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code,multi-dimensional bar codes such as Quick Response (QR) code, Azteccode, Data Matrix, Dataglyph, MaxiCode, PDF417, Ultra Code, UCC RSS-2Dbar code, and other optical codes), or acoustic detection components(e.g., microphones to identify tagged audio signals). In addition, avariety of information may be derived via the communication components1136, such as location via Internet Protocol (IP) geolocation, locationvia Wi-Fi® signal triangulation, location via detecting an NFC beaconsignal that may indicate a particular location, and so forth.

The various memories (e.g., main memory 1112, static memory 1114, andmemory of the processors 1102) and storage unit 1116 may store one ormore sets of instructions and data structures (e.g., software) embodyingor used by any one or more of the methodologies or functions describedherein. These instructions (e.g., the instructions 1108), when executedby processors 1102, cause various operations to implement the disclosedexamples.

The instructions 1108 may be transmitted or received over the network1120, using a transmission medium, via a network interface device (e.g.,a network interface component included in the communication components1136) and using any one of several well-known transfer protocols (e.g.,hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)). Similarly, the instructions 608 maybe transmitted or received using a transmission medium via a coupling(e.g., a peer-to-peer coupling) to the devices 1122.

Glossary

“Carrier signal” refers to any intangible medium that is capable ofstoring, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by themachine, and includes digital or analog communications signals or otherintangible media to facilitate communication of such instructions.Instructions may be transmitted or received over a network using atransmission medium via a network interface device.

“Client device” refers to any machine that interfaces to acommunications network to obtain resources from one or more serversystems or other client devices. A client device may be, but is notlimited to, a mobile phone, desktop computer, laptop, portable digitalassistants (PDAs), smartphones, tablets, ultrabooks, netbooks, laptops,multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumerelectronics, game consoles, set-top boxes, or any other communicationdevice that a user may use to access a network.

“Communication network” refers to one or more portions of a network thatmay be an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, a virtual privatenetwork (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a widearea network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), a metropolitan area network(MAN), the Internet, a portion of the Internet, a portion of the PublicSwitched Telephone Network (PSTN), a plain old telephone service (POTS)network, a cellular telephone network, a wireless network, a Wi-Fi®network, another type of network, or a combination of two or more suchnetworks. For example, a network or a portion of a network may include awireless or cellular network and the coupling may be a Code DivisionMultiple Access (CDMA) connection, a Global System for Mobilecommunications (GSM) connection, or other types of cellular or wirelesscoupling. In this example, the coupling may implement any of a varietyof types of data transfer technology, such as Single Carrier RadioTransmission Technology (1×RTT), Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO)technology, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology, EnhancedData rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) technology, third GenerationPartnership Project (3GPP) including 3G, fourth generation wireless (4G)networks, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), High SpeedPacket Access (HSPA), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access(WiMAX), Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard, others defined by variousstandard-setting organizations, other long-range protocols, or otherdata transfer technology.

“Component” refers to a device, physical entity, or logic havingboundaries defined by function or subroutine calls, branch points, APIs,or other technologies that provide for the partitioning ormodularization of particular processing or control functions. Componentsmay be combined via their interfaces with other components to carry outa machine process. A component may be a packaged functional hardwareunit designed for use with other components and a part of a program thatusually performs a particular function of related functions. Componentsmay constitute either software components (e.g., code embodied on amachine-readable medium) or hardware components. A “hardware component”is a tangible unit capable of performing certain operations and may beconfigured or arranged in a certain physical manner. In various exampleembodiments, one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone computersystem, a client computer system, or a server computer system) or one ormore hardware components of a computer system (e.g., a processor or agroup of processors) may be configured by software (e.g., an applicationor application portion) as a hardware component that operates to performcertain operations as described herein. A hardware component may also beimplemented mechanically, electronically, or any suitable combinationthereof. For example, a hardware component may include dedicatedcircuitry or logic that is permanently configured to perform certainoperations. A hardware component may be a special-purpose processor,such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or an applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC). A hardware component may alsoinclude programmable logic or circuitry that is temporarily configuredby software to perform certain operations. For example, a hardwarecomponent may include software executed by a general-purpose processoror other programmable processor. Once configured by such software,hardware components become specific machines (or specific components ofa machine) uniquely tailored to perform the configured functions and areno longer general-purpose processors. It will be appreciated that thedecision to implement a hardware component mechanically, in dedicatedand permanently configured circuitry, or in temporarily configuredcircuitry (e.g., configured by software), may be driven by cost and timeconsiderations. Accordingly, the phrase “hardware component” (or“hardware-implemented component”) should be understood to encompass atangible entity, be that an entity that is physically constructed,permanently configured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarily configured(e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manner or to perform certainoperations described herein. Considering embodiments in which hardwarecomponents are temporarily configured (e.g., programmed), each of thehardware components need not be configured or instantiated at any oneinstance in time. For example, where a hardware component comprises ageneral-purpose processor configured by software to become aspecial-purpose processor, the general-purpose processor may beconfigured as respectively different special-purpose processors (e.g.,comprising different hardware components) at different times. Softwareaccordingly configures a particular processor or processors, forexample, to constitute a particular hardware component at one instanceof time and to constitute a different hardware component at a differentinstance of time. Hardware components can provide information to, andreceive information from, other hardware components. Accordingly, thedescribed hardware components may be regarded as being communicativelycoupled. Where multiple hardware components exist contemporaneously,communications may be achieved through signal transmission (e.g., overappropriate circuits and buses) between or among two or more of thehardware components. In embodiments in which multiple hardwarecomponents are configured or instantiated at different times,communications between such hardware components may be achieved, forexample, through the storage and retrieval of information in memorystructures to which the multiple hardware components have access. Forexample, one hardware component may perform an operation and store theoutput of that operation in a memory device to which it iscommunicatively coupled. A further hardware component may then, at alater time, access the memory device to retrieve and process the storedoutput. Hardware components may also initiate communications with inputor output devices, and can operate on a resource (e.g., a collection ofinformation). The various operations of example methods described hereinmay be performed, at least partially, by one or more processors that aretemporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured toperform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanentlyconfigured, such processors may constitute processor-implementedcomponents that operate to perform one or more operations or functionsdescribed herein. As used herein, “processor-implemented component”refers to a hardware component implemented using one or more processors.Similarly, the methods described herein may be at least partiallyprocessor-implemented, with a particular processor or processors beingan example of hardware. For example, at least some of the operations ofa method may be performed by one or more processors 1004 orprocessor-implemented components. Moreover, the one or more processorsmay also operate to support performance of the relevant operations in a“cloud computing” environment or as a “software as a service” (SaaS).For example, at least some of the operations may be performed by a groupof computers (as examples of machines including processors), with theseoperations being accessible via a network (e.g., the Internet) and viaone or more appropriate interfaces (e.g., an API). The performance ofcertain of the operations may be distributed among the processors, notonly residing within a single machine, but deployed across a number ofmachines. In some example embodiments, the processors orprocessor-implemented components may be located in a single geographiclocation (e.g., within a home environment, an office environment, or aserver farm). In other example embodiments, the processors orprocessor-implemented components may be distributed across a number ofgeographic locations.

“Computer-readable storage medium” refers to both machine-storage mediaand transmission media. Thus, the terms include both storagedevices/media and carrier waves/modulated data signals. The terms“machine-readable medium,” “computer-readable medium” and“device-readable medium” mean the same thing and may be usedinterchangeably in this disclosure.

“Machine storage medium” refers to a single or multiple storage devicesand media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and associatedcaches and servers) that store executable instructions, routines anddata. The term shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limitedto, solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media, includingmemory internal or external to processors. Specific examples ofmachine-storage media, computer-storage media and device-storage mediainclude non-volatile memory, including by way of example semiconductormemory devices, e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), FPGA, andflash memory devices; magnetic disks such as internal hard disks andremovable disks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks Theterms “machine-storage medium,” “device-storage medium,”“computer-storage medium” mean the same thing and may be usedinterchangeably in this disclosure. The terms “machine-storage media,”“computer-storage media,” and “device-storage media” specificallyexclude carrier waves, modulated data signals, and other such media, atleast some of which are covered under the term “signal medium.”

“Non-transitory computer-readable storage medium” refers to a tangiblemedium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying theinstructions for execution by a machine.

“Signal medium” refers to any intangible medium that is capable ofstoring, encoding, or carrying the instructions for execution by amachine and includes digital or analog communications signals or otherintangible media to facilitate communication of software or data. Theterm “signal medium” shall be taken to include any form of a modulateddata signal, carrier wave, and so forth. The term “modulated datasignal” means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics setor changed in such a matter as to encode information in the signal. Theterms “transmission medium” and “signal medium” mean the same thing andmay be used interchangeably in this disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: causing presentation of aninitial camera view user interface at a client device, the initialcamera view user interface including an output of a digital image sensorof a camera of the client device, a user selectable element actionableto perform image capture by the camera and a user selectable elementactionable to apply a visual effect produced by an augmented realitycomponent; detecting activation, from the initial camera view userinterface, of the user selectable element actionable to apply the visualeffect produced by the augmented reality component; in response to thedetecting: accessing a face object derived from a previously obtainedportrait image, generating a modified target media content object byreplacing a portion of an initial target media content object with theface object, and generating a modified camera view user interface byoverlaying the modified target media content object in the initialcamera view user interface over at least one portion of the output ofthe digital image sensor of the camera; and causing presentation of themodified camera view user interface at the client device.
 2. The methodof claim 1, wherein the initial target media content object includesanimation.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the initial target mediacontent object includes live action video.
 4. The method of claim 1,comprising configuring the augmented reality component in a messagingsystem for exchanging data over a network.
 5. The method of claim 4,wherein the previously obtained portrait image is associated with a userprofile representing a user in the messaging system.
 6. The method ofclaim 5, wherein the augmented reality component includes one or moremachine learning models for face animation configured to re-render theface object derived from the previously obtained portrait image of theuser profile with one or more modifications, wherein the generating ofthe modified target media content object comprises executing the one ormore machine learning models.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein the userprofile represents the user accessing the initial camera view userinterface at the client device.
 8. The method of claim 5, wherein theuser profile represents a connection of the user accessing the initialcamera view user interface at the client device.
 9. The method of claim1, comprising determining spatial placement of the modified target mediacontent object in the modified camera view user interface based onmovement of a user detected by the digital image sensor of the camera.10. The method of claim 1, wherein the modified camera view userinterface comprises multiple instances of the modified target mediacontent object.
 11. A system comprising: one or more processors; and anon-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructionsthat when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or moreprocessors to perform operations comprising: causing presentation of aninitial camera view user interface at a client device, the initialcamera view user interface including an output of a digital image sensorof a camera of the client device, a user selectable element actionableto perform image capture by the camera and a user selectable elementactionable to apply a visual effect produced by an augmented realitycomponent; detecting activation, from the initial camera view userinterface, of the user selectable element actionable to apply the visualeffect produced by the augmented reality component; in response to thedetecting: accessing a face object derived from a previously obtainedportrait image, generating a modified target media content object byreplacing a portion of an initial target media content object with theface object, and generating a modified camera view user interface byoverlaying the modified target media content object in the initialcamera view user interface over at least one portion of the output ofthe digital image sensor of the camera; and causing presentation of themodified camera view user interface at the client device.
 12. The systemof claim 11, wherein the initial target media content object includesanimation.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein the initial target mediacontent object includes live action video.
 14. The system of claim 11,wherein the operations caused by the instructions executed by the one ormore processors include configuring the augmented reality component in amessaging system for exchanging data over a network.
 15. The system ofclaim 14, wherein the previously obtained portrait image is associatedwith a user profile representing a user in the messaging system.
 16. Thesystem of claim 15, wherein the augmented reality component includes oneor more machine learning models for face animation configured tore-render the face object derived from the previously obtained portraitimage of the user profile with one or more modifications, wherein thegenerating of the modified target media content object comprisesexecuting the one or more machine learning models.
 17. The system ofclaim 15, wherein the user profile represents the user accessing theinitial camera view user interface at the client device.
 18. The systemof claim 15, wherein the user profile represents a connection of theuser accessing the initial camera view user interface at the clientdevice.
 19. The system of claim 11, wherein the operations caused by theinstructions executed by the one or more processors include determiningspatial placement of the modified target media content object in themodified camera view user interface based on movement of a user detectedby the digital image sensor of the camera.
 20. A machine-readablenon-transitory storage medium having instruction data executable by amachine to cause the machine to perform operations comprising: causingpresentation of an initial camera view user interface at a clientdevice, the initial camera view user interface including an output of adigital image sensor of a camera of the client device, a user selectableelement actionable to perform image capture by the camera and a userselectable element actionable to apply a visual effect produced by anaugmented reality component; detecting activation, from the initialcamera view user interface, of the user selectable element actionable toapply the visual effect produced by the augmented reality component; inresponse to the detecting: accessing a face object derived from apreviously obtained portrait image, generating a modified target mediacontent object by replacing a portion of an initial target media contentobject with the face object, and generating a modified camera view userinterface by overlaying the modified target media content object in theinitial camera view user interface over at least one portion of theoutput of the digital image sensor of the camera; and causingpresentation of the modified camera view user interface at the clientdevice.